Although all my kids are young adults and I don’t have to think about what school will look like for my kids right now. I’ve been trying to think about what it would look like and how I would try to handle it. I’ve come up with some of my top 5 tips!

1.  Set up a daily routine

Even though your kids might be home having a set wake up time along with set times set a side for lunch, school, outside (Anything to get their body moving!), and for your littles even work in a nap time and snack time!

2.  Set up a school area

Creating a space for your child that is for school only will help let them know it’s time to focus. Find a quiet spot that will allow for the best thinking.

 3.  Assign specific roles.

If it’s just you as a single parent, then this could apply to another person who is helping you with your kids during this school time at home. Make sure who ever you have as a “Co-teacher” make sure each of you know what the other one is doing so there is no wasted time.

4.  Have some other activities ready.

If you have multiple kids and you don’t have enough devices or you need to spend one on one with a child you will need to have other independent activities ready. 

5.  Offer Extra Rewards.

Another strategy that you might use especially with younger kids to help with the focus of teaching at home is offering BONUS or EXTRA Rewards such as earning a bonus hour so they can stay up 1 hour later than normal on the weekend. You can adjust the Extra Reward that works for the age of child you have. If your child loves to play the video game but only has an allotted time give them a chance to earn an extra 30 minutes if they focus on their school lessons during the week.

Remember, if you can, that a frustrated teacher/parent can make a hard situation even worse. No matter the reasons, be sure to give yourself grace and have patience! This is one unprecedented time that all the parents are currently going through the same situation and YOU ARE NOT ALONE!